"I obviously don't know what Russia's goal was. Whether it did all of this deliberately, intentionally, accidentally — and honestly, that doesn't matter. We see this incident in a broader context, a context framed by Russia's war in Ukraine. Our task now is to ensure that it ends for Russia with sufficiently unpleasant consequences — so that next time it will not enter our airspace," Vseviov said Monday on "Vikerhommik."

According to Vseviov, the Russian Defense Ministry's claim that its aircraft were flying over international waters is a blatant lie.

"We have irrefutable evidence about this, and not only we — all our allies do. That evidence exists. That Russia provocatively and dangerously violated a NATO country's airspace is one thing. That it is publicly lying about it to the whole world is another.

Vseviov illustrated the situation with an example of what would have happened if a NATO aircraft had flown in Russian airspace for 12 minutes.

"Imagine a scenario in which a plane from a NATO country flew so close to Russia's capital as these aircraft flew here. What would the world's reaction have been then? There would have been condemnation. What is Russia's behavior today? Typical — obfuscation and prevarication."

Vseviov said Russia's behavior is characterized by belittling other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"What happened to us is a side event compared with what is happening in Ukraine. It is a complete disregard for the most fundamental principles of international law, trampling on them and showing utter indifference to the rules that underpin the international order."

Vseviov emphasized that NATO has established procedures for incidents like Friday's airspace violation.

"Everything is set and drilled. Not once during those 12 minutes did anyone do anything improvisational — procedures that exist were followed. Those procedures are in place up to, and including, shooting down aircraft. Of course, I don't want to discuss the exact nuances on the radio about when and what we would do. But I can assure you there was no hesitation or surprise."

Vseviov said the armed forces of all NATO countries are prepared and configured to use force, if necessary, to defend their territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.

"The question is when we will start using that force and, before that, how to act so it is understood there's no point joking about those red lines. Again, it doesn't matter whether they were here accidentally, deliberately or for whatever reason. The fact is the fighters were in our airspace, they should not have been here and now it needs to be made clear that they must not return."

On Monday Estonia will begin discussions at the U.N. Security Council about the airspace incident. On Tuesday the Security Council will focus on the war in Ukraine.

"What we face is not isolated mistakes but systematic actions that violate international law. We have a separate series of events with either the president, the foreign minister or other members of our delegation participating. Among them are events focusing on the children deported from Ukraine. With these, we are trying to show more distant countries why what is happening here should matter to them."

One of Russia's aims, Vseviov said, is to push the West off course regarding Ukraine, where active combat is taking place.

"Their goal is to intimidate us, divide us, confuse us so that we stop pursuing the policy we have followed until now — namely, raising the cost of aggression on the one hand and supporting Ukraine on the other. Those two things are the only recipe for achieving a just peace. Naturally, we will continue on that course."

Vseviov said active discussions have begun in Europe about the next sanctions package.

"Our objective is clear: it must be serious and really hurt. You can hurt them through energy, but also — of course — through banking. And then we must honestly confront the problem that, during this war, Russia has found a whole range of ways to evade existing sanctions. So action against sanctions evasion should, in our view, be at the center of the 19th sanctions package."

The secretary general said consultations have taken place with other member states and with European Commission officials, and that a view similar to Estonia's appears to predominate in Europe.

"The analysis practically coincides even with those countries further from Russia's borders. Now this package simply needs to be agreed on more quickly, and timing matters here — we shouldn't let these discussions drag out. But I'll say right away that the probability that we'll be satisfied after the 19th package is extraordinarily small. We will only be satisfied when Russia ends its aggression. If arrival of the 19th package does not do that, we will immediately start work on a 20th. There are certainly more areas where we can tighten the screws."

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